Good morning. Law firms are increasingly divided into two factions: lawyers who go to court and those who don’t.

Rainmaking corporate lawyers who paper up boardroom deals have amassed significant power at global law firms. Meanwhile, litigators, whose contribution to the firms’ bottom line is modest by comparison, have been sidelined and frustrated in their efforts to take on controversial clients, especially in the Trump era.

• A flurry of departures by top litigators from large firms: Big-name trial lawyers are voting with their feet by leaving major law firms and going to boutique outfits dedicated to litigation. A group of star lawyers from Paul Weiss—including prominent Democrat Karen Dunn—left to start their own shop in May, weeks after the firm became the first to make a deal with President Trump to neutralize a punitive executive order. A few weeks earlier, veteran trial lawyer Abbe Lowell left Winston & Strawn and started a boutique law firm. In June, a co-lead of Sidley Austin’s white-collar practice and a Covington & Burling partner launched a small firm focused on fintech. A key litigator recently left Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, an eminent New York firm, to join a boutique started by Roberta Kaplan.
   
• Divisions growing: Divisions have been forming inside firms for at least several years. Billings for work on corporate deals and for private-equity firms have skyrocketed, dwarfing the revenue from trial work. Law firms have recruited top corporate lawyers with promises of $20 million and more in annual earnings—in line with their counterparts in investment banking. Those lawyers, in turn, exercise significant sway because they could devastate firms’ bottom lines if they left and took their clients with them.
   
• But the Trump era has deepened the disagreements: Corporate lawyers benefit from staying on the administration’s good side in case they need regulator approval for important deals, while litigators risk their reputations as zealous advocates if they look unwilling to stand up to the president.

TD Bank names new U.S. chief compliance officer.

TD Bank has hired a compliance veteran from competitor JPMorgan Chase to lead its U.S. compliance team amid scrutiny by U.S. regulators over its anti-money-laundering compliance, Risk Journal reports. 

The Canadian lender has named Jon Rasmussen as its new U.S. chief compliance officer, according to an internal memo seen by Risk Journal. Rasmussen spent three decades at JPMorgan and most recently served as chief compliance officer of its consumer and business banking division.

Pharma manufacturer Gerresheimer’s stock plummets amid accounting probe.

Shares in pharmaceutical equipment manufacturer Gerresheimer slumped as much as 38% on Wednesday after Germany’s financial watchdog said the company had violated accounting regulations.

BaFin, the German financial supervisory authority, said Wednesday that it had evidence that Gerresheimer hadn’t abided by the country’s financial regulations. The watchdog initiated an ad-hoc audit of financial statements on Sept. 18, it said.

• The U.S. has blocked the import of bikes from Giant Manufacturing, one of the world’s largest bicycle manufacturers, over concerns that forced labor is involved in their production, Risk Journal reports.
   
• Investors are constantly monitoring a range of factors when it comes to Tesla shares, but one key area is CEO Elon Musk’s potential $1 trillion pay package. The electric-vehicle maker’s board outlined the compensation proposal earlier this month to “motivate” the billionaire and investors very much want him to stay and remain focused on the company. Musk weighed into the debate over his pay on his social-media platform X Tuesday, in response to a user urging shareholders to vote in favor of the proposal, according to Barron’s. 

Trump vowed to try to head off West Bank annexation by Israel, officials say.

President Trump told leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority countries that he would pressure Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank and to back a U.S. peace plan for the Gaza war, Middle East officials and a U.S. official said.

Trump’s assurances at a closed-door meeting in New York on Tuesday came days after France and other European countries announced they were recognizing a Palestinian state, raising concern that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would respond by formally annexing all or large parts of the West Bank.

• Israel Shuts Key Border Crossing Between Jordan and West Bank

How Zelensky’s charm offensive reversed Trump’s skepticism on Ukraine.

A half-year ago in the Oval Office, President Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that “you don’t have the cards” in the war with Russia. On Tuesday at the United Nations, Trump lauded the performance of Ukraine’s army and poured scorn on Russia’s military efforts.

“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump said on Truth Social after meeting with Zelensky. “Why not?”

U.S. officials said that Trump issued the statement in part to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a deal, since no real progress toward ending the war had been made since last month’s meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska.

• China said it would no longer seek new special treatment for developing countries in current and future World Trade Organization negotiations, signaling a possible effort to ease a longstanding friction point with the U.S. ahead of a planned summit.
   
• Confidence among German businesses fell back for the first time this year, according to a survey that adds to worrying signs for Europe’s most important economy.
   
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. is in talks to provide Argentina with a $20 billion swap line to help contain financial upheaval and support President Javier Milei’s free-market overhaul.

• The Trump administration is in talks to take another stake in a company that wants a loan from the U.S. government.
   
• Protesters around the world hoist a flag from a hit Japanese pirate show called “One Piece” as a protest symbol.
   
• A person detained by ICE was killed and two others critically injured when a shooter opened fire at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas, the Department of Homeland Security said.

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